Forum: Writing
centers andtutoring inJapan and Asia

Forum participants
Moderator and organizers• Steve Cornwell• Scott Johnston• Hiroko Yoshida (Moderator)

Osaka Jogakuin College

Hiroko Yoshida
Osaka University of
Economics

Steve Cornwell
Osaka Jogakuin College

Osaka Jogakuin College

Osaka University of Economics

Writing center coordinators• Scott Johnston• Yuzu Uchida

Osaka Jogakuin College
Waseda University• Deborah McDowell Aoki   Hokusei Gakuin University• Jennie Roloff• Ashok Dange

Scott Johnston

Osaka Jogakuin College

Teachers College; Kanda University of International Studies

Smt. Parvatibai Chowgule College of Arts and Science, India

Tutors• Robert Moreau

Teachers College• Jennie Roloff

Kanda University of International Studies• Kyoko Morikoshi• Yuto Koizumi

Hokusei Gakuin University
Waseda University• Shoko Nagata

Waseda University• Sachiko Shiota

Waseda University• Ayako Saito

Waseda University

Reference data:
Johnston, S., Yoshida, H., & Cornwell, S. (2010). Writing centers and tutoring in Japan and Asia. In A. M.
Stoke (Ed.), JALT2009 Conference Proceedings. Tokyo: JALT.

JALT2009 Conference Proceedings
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Johnston, Yoshida, & Cornwell • Forum: Writing centers and tutoring in Japan and Asia

This paper describes the forum on writing centers and tutoring in Japanand Asia held at JALT2009. It first provides a brief to each center basedon the centers’ coordinators’ presentations. It then summarizes thepanel discussions held by the coordinators and, finally, it provides a synopsis of the panel discussion held by the tutors. Writing center funding,tutors, and session length and formats are among the topics addressed.
本稿は、JALT2009において開催された日本とアジアにおけるライティングセンターとチュータリングに関するフォーラムの概要を報告する。初めに、各センターのコーディネータによって説明されたライティングセンターの特徴を紹介し、次に、コーディネータ及びチューターによるパネルディスカッションについて論じる。主に議論された内容は、ライティングセンターの運営資金、チューター、セッション時間の長さ、セッションの構成などである。

the forum have been conducting research into writing centers
as part of a Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Kaken grant
and had made contacts and visited writing centers in Korea, Singapore, and the U.S as well as in Japan. Originally, South Korea
and India had coordinators who were interested in participating. However, the coordinators from two South Korean universities’ writing centers could not attend.

The format of the forum was as follows. The session began
by introducing the Kaken research that was responsible forfirst making connections between the various writing centerspresent. It then continued with a brief presentation on writing
centers in general. Next, the writing center coordinators invited
lthough university writing centers have a long history
presented brief summaries of their centers. (Note: summaries
in U.S. universities, they are a relatively new phenomwere also presented on the two South Korean centers whose coenon in Japan and Asia. Writing centers started being
ordinators were not able to attend). Finally, there were two panestablished in Japan around 2004, yet only a few articles haveel discussions followed by questions and answers: a 35-minutebeen published to date. They include ones on their establishpanel discussion of coordinators and a 20-minute panel disment, effectiveness, and the role of literacy (Johnston, 2006;
cussionof tutors. Tutors refers to the people actually staffing
Johnston, Cornwell, & Yoshida, 2008; Johnston & Swenson, 2005;
thecenter,and depending on the center, can include teachers,
Sadoshima, 2006; Yasuda, 2006). Furthermore, in the past three
graduate students, or advanced undergraduate students.
years, interest in writing centers in Japan has been growing as
This article loosely follows the format of the forum described
represented by numerous presentations and symposiums atvarious conferences (JACET, JALT) on the development of writ- in the preceding paragraph as it presents information on thewriting centers that participated, and summarizes the panel
ing centers and the development of an Asian writing/learning
discussions of the writing center coordinators and the writing
center list serve (asianwritingcenters-subscribe@yahoogroups.
center tutors.
com). All this activity culminated with the first annual Japan
writing center symposium being held in February 2009 at the
University of Tokyo’s Komaba campus. At this symposium writing center coordinators and tutors were able to discuss and com- Writing centerspare their writing centers and approaches to tutoring. A second The following are synopses of the summaries each writing center coordinator presented highlighting the key points they made.
symposium was held in February, 2010 at Waseda University.
The synopses are followed by information on how the centers
It was at the first symposium that the idea of holding a larger
are funded, what services they offer, and how they operate.
forum at JALT was first discussed.

A

For the forum, it was decided to not limit participants toJapan but to include writing centers in Asia. The organizers of

JALT2009 CONFERENCE
PROCEEDINGSONLINE• School: Osaka Jogakuin College (OJC)• Administrator: Scott Johnston <johnston@wilmina.ac.jp>

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Johnston, Yoshida, & Cornwell • Forum: Writing centers and tutoring in Japan and Asia••

College homepage: www.wilmina.ac.jp/ojc/top/
view?set_language=en

Writing center homepage: www.wilmina.ac.jp/studylink/Writing_Center/index.htm

OJC is a liberal arts college with about 1,000 students. Students in the 4-year college major in International & English
Interdisciplinary Studies and students in the 2-year college major in English. OJC is one of the few universities in Japan wheremost of the courses are taught through English and students
have many writing assignments including essays, summaries,
and research papers. The 6-day writing center was establishedin April 2004 when the 4-year university was established. Prior
to that there was a one evening a week “writing center.” Thewriting center is part of the Self-Access & Study Support Center(SASSC) which in addition to writing support includes Japanesetutors who can address a wide range of issues in Japanese, aGrammar Clinic, and a Phonetics Clinic.
• School: Waseda University• Administrator: Saori Sadoshima <sadoshima@waseda.jp>• University homepage: www.waseda.jp/top/index-e.htm• Writing center homepage: www.cie-waseda.jp/awp/

Waseda University is one of the three largest private universities in Japan with around 57,000 students. At first the writing
center served the 2,000 students in the School of International
Liberal Studies. Many of the courses in this school are taught
through English. The writing center was established when the
School of International Liberal Studies began in 2004, and from
October 2008 it has been open to the entire university. Waseda
is one of the few writing centers that offers tutoring in English
or Japanese. At the center you can work on a) an English paperwith a native English speaking tutor, b) an English paper with abilingual English/Japanese speaking tutor, c) a Japanese paper

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with a Japanese speaking tutor, and d) a Japanese paper with aJapanese speaker specializing in Japanese as a Second Language(JSL).
•••

School: Hokusei Gakuen University Junior College,
Hokkaido
Administrators: Kyoko Morikoshi, Deborah Aoki
<morikoshi@hokusei.ac.jp>

College homepage: www.hokusei.ac.jp/english/index.cgi

Hokusei Gakuen University Junior College (HGUJC) writing
lab began in November 2005 with funding from a good practices
grant. The center is located in the teaching material development room which belongs to the English department. The lab
serves about 300 English majors. The English writing lab wasneeded to support students in writing better reports and papers
for content-based classes such as Sociology, Anthropology,
World Music, and History. However the lab was also establishedto facilitate any aspects of English learning including writing,presentations, interview preparation, etc. Some students cometo the lab regularly to converse with tutors.
•

School: Teachers College, Tokyo, Japan•

College homepage: www.tc-japan.edu/••

Administrator: Sandra Gillispie <gillispie.sandra@gmail.
com>
Writing center homepage: www.tc-japan.edu/writer/index.html

Teachers College is a branch campus of Columbia University in
New York City, NY. Currently, the writing center serves students
studying for a master’s degree in TESOL. Courses are only offered on Saturday and Sunday with students taking classes all
day long. Thus, many students do not live in the Tokyo area.

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Johnston, Yoshida, & Cornwell • Forum: Writing centers and tutoring in Japan and Asia

Students take courses and then must carry out research and writea thesis of at least 25 pages that demonstrates they have masteredwhat they have been taught at Teachers College. The writing
center serves both current students and alumni.
•
•
•

•

School: Kanda University of International Studies

Administrators: Jo Mynard, Phil Murphy <joanne-m@
kanda.kuis.ac.jp>
University homepage: www.kuis.ac.jp

Writing center homepage: www.kandagaigo.ac.jp/kuis/
salc/links/salcwriting.html

The Self Access Learning Centre at Kanda University of International Studies is one of the largest in Asia with over 10,000
resources in addition to a Writing Centre, a Practice Centre, aFree Conversation Area, and eight full-time learning advisors.
The writing center serves over 3,000 undergraduate students at
the university. Many of the courses in this university are taught
through English. The writing center was established in 2004,
and from 2009 there will be an online writing centre in addition
to the physical one. The writing centre will assist students withanything written in English.
•••

School: Smt. Parvatibai Chowgule College of Arts andScience (SPCC), Goa, India affiliated with Goa University

Administrator: Ashok Dange <add002@chowgules.ac.in>College homepage: www.chowgules.ac.jp <writingcentre@chowgules.ac.in>

Smt Parvatibai Chowgule College of Arts and Science (SPCC)
is an undergraduate degree college offering degrees in arts andsciences. In addition there is a masters programme in Geography and Computer Science. Furthermore, the college includes
students pursuing their Higher Secondary Certificate Exam

JALT2009 CONFERENCE
PROCEEDINGSONLINE(11th and 12th year of schooling). The total student population is about 1500. The writing centre is part of the Counseling,
Career, and Vocational Guidance Centre, which was started in2007. The writing centre was started with assistance from the
University of Ottawa, Canada. Marie-Lise Blain, the manager ofthe Academic Writing Help Centre in Ottawa and the Coordinator of the Centre, Martin Holock, helped develop the SPCC
center during a stay from June 30th to July 22nd, 2008. Prior tocollege, students learn through their mother tongue which is
Konkani, Marathi, and/or Hindi. The language of instruction in
the college is English.
In the brief presentations by the coordinators, they presented
information on several topics concerning their individual sessions and organization/operation (See Tables 1 and 2). These
topics are viewed as central to tutoring as well as to the organization of centers.

As can be seen from Table 1, the organization of these centers varies. Some are open 6 days a week while others (Teacher
College) are open only on the weekend. Sessions run from 15
minutes to an hour. In discussions about session length, schools
were trying to balance serving the most students with limited
staffing. Several schools would have liked to offer longer sessions but could not due to funding. Those schools would allow
students to sign up for a second session if no one was waiting.
Almost all the centers allow students to receive assistance inEnglish or informally in Japanese with one (Waseda) having set
up its program to offer assistance in either language.

Writing center coordinators’ panel discussion
During the writing center coordinators’ panel, a variety of topics
and issues were discussed including those presented here: session length, tutors, funding, proofreading, successes, concerns,
and suggestions for starting a center.

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Johnston, Yoshida, & Cornwell • Forum: Writing centers and tutoring in Japan and Asia

Table 1. Writing centers sessions
SchoolOJC
WasedaHokusei
Teachers College

Hours
M-F 5:00-8:00

Sat 1:30-4:00
M-F 10:40-5:15
M-F 9:00-5:00
Sat 1:00-5:00

Sun 12:00-5:00
Kanda University of M-F 11:00-5:00
Int. Studies
SPCC
M-Sat. 8:30-3:30

Length15 min.

TutorsPart-time instructors

Session language
Mostly in English for English

45 min.
30 min.
60 minTrained graduate students
Professional tutors
3 alumni

In English or Japanese
In English for English
In English

15 min45 min3 TC students (graduate)
ELI instructors

Mostly in English but also Japanese

Two full-time faculty; two part-timestudents

Mostly in English

Table 2. Writing centers’ organization/operation
SchoolOJC
WasedaHokusei
Teachers College
Kanda University
SPCC

Funding
Yearly(about ¥1 million/year)
Tutors paid by university; budget
from Center of International
Education
Grants¥2 million/ year
Students pay; ¥3,000 for a one
hour private session
N/A
N/A

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Administration
Faculty member

Services
Students usage
Writing, speaking, reading, grammar Spring 2009: 494

Faculty member
with some releasetime
Two faculty

Writing

Spring 2009:

Writing, speaking, reading, grammar, general English questions

Spring 2009: 459

Faculty member

Writing support with focus on MA
N/Athesis project and other publications
Writing support
N/A

Faculty member

920

Student assistant
All types of writing, including job
and full-time coor- applications, resumes, etc.
dinator

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Session length
The session length varied for the centers from 15 minutes to one
hour. The rationales for setting session length varied and weredependent upon course scheduling, funding, and the purposesof the centers.

At some schools, such as Waseda, classes are 90 minutes longand the tutors are graduate students. Thus, it is easy to scheduletutors for a 45-minute session or two sessions in 90 minutes.
OJC limits its sessions to 15 minutes in order to reach more students. This is also influenced by the fact that the center is only
open 3 hours per night as the college does not have funds toopen it longer. Thus, it is possible for 12 students to get help per
evening. As mentioned earlier, if there is no one signed up forthe next slot, a student can stay for 30 minutes. Teachers College
had a tutor that worked in a writing center in the U.S. where
the sessions were 60 minutes; thus, TC set their sessions at 60
minutes as well. And, since they are working on a higher levelof academic writing (MA theses), more time is necessary.

While the coordinators agreed that the focus of writing centers is to develop better writers and not necessarily create better
papers, there were various opinions on length of sessions. In
longer sessions, there is more time for the student to think about
her/his writing and to examine several sections of a paper. On
the other hand, in the shorter sessions, students must focus onsome aspect of their writing and paper to discuss as there is
not enough time to go through the paper from introduction toconclusion.

Tutors
The types of tutors used varied too. At Waseda, they usedgraduate students who are thoroughly trained in an in-housetraining program and who meet regularly to discuss tutoringand issues that come up in the course of tutoring. Other uni-

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versities in Japan also use graduate students, for example, The
University of Tokyo and Sophia University.

On the other hand, OJC uses part-time instructors most ofwhom also teach at OJC. These tutors have an in-depth knowledge of the curriculum and students’ problems. Similarly, Hokusei Gakuin University uses native speaking English professionaltutors. Kanda University of International Studies is able to use
faculty as tutors as does SPCC in Goa.

Funding
Many of the Japanese universities have received grants fromthe government to help start their writing centers. These grants
were often in the form of a Distinctive University Education
Support Program grant, commonly known as a Good Practices
grant. Good practices grants are Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology grants given to “support
distinctive and outstanding projects [that] contribute to theimprovement of university education…” (MEXT, 2003). Waseda,
OJC, Sophia, and Hokusei Gakuin College all received government funding to help set up or run their writing centers. On theother hand, Teachers College has students pay, which is how
some U.S. university writing centers are organized.

Proofreading
In general, the writing centers do not proofread students’
papers. Even Hanyang University in Seoul which serves only
graduate students and faculty who are seeking to publish
papers in academic journals and which offers session that canrun several hours does not proofread. Proofreading can be doneby outside organizations. One coordinator also pointed out that
although students may ask for a grammar check or proofreading, they often really want some other kind of help. They just do
not know what specific help to ask for or how to ask for it.

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At OJC, if students come in for a grammar check, which iscommon, the tutors do not check the grammar but instead will
look for patterns, such as students using wrong forms of a word
(marriage versus married). Then they point out a couple ofcases to the students so that they can begin to correct their own
papers.

students can use to ask questions when they visit. As mentioned
earlier, some schools use posters to advertise their center, but
the general feeling of the coordinators was that using signs
alone was not very effective.

Another concern had to do with conflicting views about theappropriate role of a writing center. Some faculty members want
their school’s writing center to proofread the students’ papers
before the instructor sees them. In other words, they wanted
Successes
the center to be proofreading and remedial centers. It seems no
Successes were often phrased in terms of the number of stumatter how much centers indicate that writing centers are notdents who visit and the learning that takes place. The centers
for proofreading, some instructors continue to send students forare challenged to get more students to visit the centers. Their
proofreading. Other faculty members question whether or not
experience is that students who visit once are more likely tousing a writing center is fair. They feel that students who visit
return, so effort is made to get more students to make that initial the writing center have an unfair advantage over students who
visit. Centers try a variety of marketing approaches ranging
do not visit. A question about this was asked at the end of thefrom having professionally designed posters placed strategically forum. The coordinators indicated that since the centers focus
around campus to having tutors visit writing classes to introon the student’s thinking about and understanding of the writduce the center and encourage students to visit.
ing process, then a paper with a better grade most likely results
Another success several people mentioned is seeing learningfrom a student becoming a better writer. If that is so, then thetake place. Several of the coordinators also serve as tutors, andcenters are doing their jobs. One coordinator also pointed out
they lit up and became more animated when they talked aboutthat since all students have the opportunity to use the center,seeing students’ understanding occur right in front of them.
then centers are fundamentally fair and questions about fairness
only serve to distract attention from real issues.

Concerns
As is expected, the coordinator’s also raised some concerns they
have. One concern is how to get the students who need help tocome to the centers. Various suggestions were presented. Seoul
National University requires all first-year students to visit thecenter and at Tokyo University the center (and required visits)
are an integral part of certain writing classes. In addition some
instructors at schools give extra credit points for visiting. At
OJC, the writing center tutors visit the first-year classes to put
a personal face to the writing center. At this time, they also
hand out a list of helpful language in Japanese and English that

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Suggestions to consider when starting a center
There were several key suggestions made not as a step-by-step
way to start a center, but rather as overall considerations that
may help position one’s department to advocate for a center. For
information on how to start a center, readers should consult theInternational Writing Centers Association site (IWCA, 2006).
First, it is fine to start small and then grow. Many universities may think that a large center is needed from the beginning
while others sometimes question the need for a writing center.

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Both of these concerns can be addressed by starting with a small
center, providing good advice to students, and monitoring students visits so that you are able to show how you are meeting
their needs. Next, it is important that the decision makers at theuniversity are taught the importance of a writing center and theneeds it can fulfill. Many administrators are not familiar withwriting centers and their purposes. Thus, it is necessary thatthey be educated as to the role these centers can play in English education within a university. Finally, it seems that many
schools profited by having a government grant to help start thecenter. It is important to note that in many cases, the grant was
not specifically for the establishment of a writing center, butrather for overall improvements, and thus the school was able toapply some of the grant to the writing center startup.

Tutors’ panel discussion
Following the writing center coordinators’ panel discussion,a tutors’ panel discussion was held where tutors who actuallywork with the students were able to provide some insight on
who uses the centers, what a session looks like, and successes
and concerns that tutors have.

Students who comeThe students who used the centers varied depending on theschool. For example, OJC, SPCC and Hokusei mainly served
the undergraduate students. On the other hand, Teachers College only has a graduate program. So its writing center users
are graduate students and graduates of the program. Waseda
University serves the whole campus. Undergraduates, graduate
students and faculty can use its center. In addition, as mentioned earlier Waseda helps students with English or Japanese
papers. Thus, they also help exchange students who are learning to write in Japanese as a second language.

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Session format
In most of the centers, the tutors started by asking the student’s
name and then asking questions to find out the purpose of thevisit. Once the purpose of the visit is determined, the centers
attempt to have the students and their papers remain central in
the tutoring process with the tutor serving more as a facilitator
rather than a teacher. Many centers have an evaluation form
for students to fill out after the session, and most also have aform for the tutors to fill out in order to collect data on student
usage. As mentioned earlier, this data can be helpful in showing
administrators the need for the center.

Successes
A key success parallels the one mentioned by the coordinators
who spoke about seeing learning taking place. Tutors are able tosee students develop confidence in their visits to the center. Students are often made to read their papers, and as they read theystop when they hear themselves read their own mistakes. They
are often able to self-correct. In this way students are becoming
critical readers of their own writing and thus, better writers.
Another success is that tutors become better writing counselors.
For example, one tutor highlighted how she became a more
active listener and was then able to focus on students’ concerns
as she encourages them to write better. She moved from giving
answers to asking probing questions.

Another tutor talked about how she and her students sometimes “jump for joy” at the end of a session when the student
has truly found out how to make her/his writing better. The
same tutor mentioned that she felt success when grammar wasnever mentioned during a session. She felt that when the conversations were connected to the organization of a paper and/or
the ideas being expressed, she felt the student had realized whatneeds to be focused upon.

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Concerns
One of the main concerns that tutors mentioned was making
sure the paper remains the student’s own writing. The tutors
were concerned that if they are too direct in providing support,
the paper may “become” the tutor’s paper. So a question they
are constantly dealing with is how much direct support is acceptable?

In addition, students are often primarily worried about words
and grammar and not organization and ideas. Thus, tutors needto balance addressing the students’ needs while also having thestudent consider the larger picture which includes the organization of their writing and the message they are trying to get across.
Another concern was that the centers became very busy at
the end of semesters as assignments become due and not all thestudents who want to meet with a tutor can schedule an appointment. Some schools try to address this by adding tutors or
asking faculty members to volunteer for a few hours.

Finally, the use of online translators was mentioned as a growing concern. Some students will write an essay in Japanese, put
it through an online translator and bring the results to a session
without even looking at it. The result is a paper that is often almost incomprehensible. The student often does not even know
many of the words in the paper and is unable to explain whatcertain sentences mean. The tutors felt this will be a growing
problem in the future.

Conclusion
This forum helped show that there seems to be a common
conceptual idea for writing centers at Japanese universities.
All are committed to not just helping students produce a better
paper, but to support student learning. They are also concernedwith students remaining autonomous and maintaining ownership of their papers. At the same time the centers are organized

JALT2009 CONFERENCE
PROCEEDINGSONLINEto fit the unique needs of their schools and students, and thishas led to diversity among the centers. As has been seen in thispaper, there is diversity in terms of the students served, session
lengths, and types of tutors to mention just a few areas.

Acknowledgement
This research is supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research grant 19520531.

Invitation
Anyone interested in joining the Asian Writing/Learning Centers online group, please email: <asianwritingcenters-subscribe@
yahoogroups.com>

Bio data
Scott Johnston is a Professor in the Department of International and English Interdisciplinary Studies at Osaka Jogakuin
College. He is the Assistant to the Vice President of Education
Programs & Promotion. His research interests include academic
writing, cross cultural education, and overseas programs.
Hiroko Yoshida is an Associate Professor at Osaka Universityof Economics. She is a graduate of the Temple University Japan
doctoral program in Curriculum, Instruction and Technology
in Education. Her research interests include language testing,extensive reading, vocabulary learning, and curriculum development.
Steve Cornwell is a Professor in the Department of International and English Interdisciplinary Studies at Osaka Jogakuin
College. He has an MAT in TESOL from the School for Interna- PREVIOUS PAGE

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Johnston, Yoshida, & Cornwell • Forum: Writing centers and tutoring in Japan and Asia

tional Training, USA and an EdD in Curriculum, Instruction andTechnology in Education from Temple University, USA. His research areas of interest are curriculum design, learners’ identity
and investment in learning English, and teacher education.

References
IWCA. (2006). IWCA: Starting up. Retrieved April 10, 2008, from http://
writingcenters.org/resources/starting-a-writing-cente/#BasicSteps
Johnston, S. (2006). Writing center: 2005-2006 assessment. Osaka: Osaka
Jogakuin College, Education and Promotion Department.

Johnston, S., Cornwell, S., & Yoshida, H. (2008). Writing centers in Japan.
Osaka Jogakuin Daigaku Kenkyuu Kiyou, 5, 181-192.
Johnston, S., & Swenson, T. (2005). Establishing a writing center: Initial
findings. Osaka Jogakuin Daigaku Kenkyuu Kiyou, 2, 13-24.

MEXT (2003). Part 1: Higher education to support a knowledge-basedsociety full of creative vitality – New developments in higher education reform. FY2003 White paper on education, culture, sports, science,and technology. Retrieved January 3, 2010, from http://www.mext.
go.jp/b_menu/hakusho/html/hpac200301/hpac200301_2_035.html
Sadoshima, S. (2006). Wasadadaigaku kokusaikyouyougakubu nihattsushita raitingucenter nounneitoshido. [Research in the teaching ofJapanese language at Waseda University]. Waseda University Japanese
Education Research, 26, 82-94.

Yasuda, S. (2006). Japanese students’ literacy background and the role of
the writing center. The Language Teacher, 30(5), 3-7.

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